This study examined the extent to which the validity scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) could identify subjects who were faking bad or faking good and differentiate between psychiatric patients and normal subjects who were faking bad. Subjects were 106 undergraduate college students and 50 psychiatric patients. Results indicate that the mean profiles and optimal cutoff scores resembled those previously reported for the original MMPI. Accurate identification of persons who were faking bad or faking good was achieved. It was possible to differentiate between the psychiatric patients and normal persons who were faking bad, but different cutoff scores were needed to differentiate between normals taking the test under standard instructions and those instructed to fake bad. Optimal cutoff scores were suggested.

Subjects were 75 African-American and 725 White men and 65 African-American and 743 White women who were part of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) restandardization sample (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989). Mean differences on the MMPI-2 validity and clinical scales between ethnic groups were small for both genders; however, any difference could be because of the variation in demographics. When subjects were matched by age, education, and income, fewer MMPI-2 scale means differed. In a follow-up study, the accuracy of the MMPI-2 clinical scales in predicting partner ratings was calculated. The predictions, which were based on a regression equation, were not significantly different between the two ethnic groups.Ethnic differences have been studied widely over the 50 years since the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was first published (e.g.,

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The results from this study were presented in part at the 26th Annual Symposium on Recent Developments in the Use of the MMPI, St. Petersburg Beach, FL.The authors wish to thank Yossef S. Ben-Porath for his many helpful comments and suggestions made on earlier versions of this article.

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